God As Timeless In The Thinking Of Augustine And Aquinas

Question 1

Augustine considered the question of whether the Bible supports the idea of a God who’s ?, or a God who’s ?, and Augustine reached the opposite conclusion from Swinburne.

Answer 1

Atemporal.

Sempiternal.

Question 2

For Augustine, the problem was at God has made the world at a point in time, raising the issue of what God had been doing beforehand, wondering why he picked this moment and how he was spending his time in the ? before the universe existed. There can’t have been a “?” for God.

Answer 2

Eternity.

Before.

Question 3

Augustine and Aquinas both wrote about the idea of an unchanging, eternal God and have influenced Christian ?

Answer 3

Thought.

Question 4

According to Augustine, God’s immutable and can’t be other than he is, bound to the idea that God’s timeless. Aquinas followed Augustine’s views, adding the important point that when we speak of God, we need to recognise that the language we use is ? and not ? Any words that we use to describe God can’t be applied directly as God isn’t like us.

Answer 4

Analogical.

Univocal.

Question 5

Aquinas wanted to point out that some of the philosophical difficulties people have when trying to understand attributes of God arise because we’re taking our own language too literally and failing to understand the ? of God.

Answer 5

Unknowability.

Question 6

A question with the view that God’s outside of time is whether an unchanging being that exists outside of time can be capable of love. Some ? ? argue that love involves emotional response. An unchanging God outside time would feel the same way all the time, whether people were worshiping or suffering.

Answer 6

Modern scholars.

Question 7

Aquinas held that God could be loving and ? because he’s God.

Answer 7

Unchanging.

Question 8

Aquinas drew a distinction between God’s nature combined with his will, which are ? and God making a change in other things: his activity. Aquinas argued that God’s nature, because it’s perfect, is unchanging, always love, always perfect goodness. God’s will is always the same because God doesn’t change his mind.

Answer 8

Immutable.

Question 9

In Aquinas’ view, Gods unchanging nature doesn’t prevent God from having relationships. God doesn’t change, but his creation does, there’s a dynamic relationship allowing for existence of love even though God stays the ?

Answer 9

Same.

Question 10

Richard ? argues that God can be loving as well as immutable. God can known what his own will is, in response to any of an infinite number of possibilities. God can still know what all of the possibilities are, and can know in advance what his will is in response to each of these possibilities.

Answer 10

Creel.